"You've Saved My Life!"

Bracha, a 39-year-old single mother, was in a serious car accident when she was 12 that affected her physically and mentally. She was in a coma for two months, and still has a limp and slurred speech. "When people hear me speak they think I'm mentally challenged," she says. "My parents treated me like a problem without any solution. I began to feel like a worthless burden."

When she was only 19 years old, Bracha's parents pushed her into a marriage that she regretted from the start. He yelled a lot, and he eventually began hitting Bracha. She tried to avoid her husband as much as possible, but when she learned he was abusing their children, "that was the last straw." She told a social worker, who helped her get a divorce.

Her husband was eventually arrested, which made Bracha feel safer. But she didn't realize he had left her with huge debt. "I barely had enough to make ends meet. There was no way I could pay off such a huge sum." Over the course of the next few years Bracha and her children went from apartment to apartment, each in worse condition than the one before.

When a public housing apartment finally became available, Bracha cried tears of joy. But that joy was short-lived. Before moving in, the gas company demanded a large sum to connect the gas – money she didn't have.

When Bracha told her social worker, she told Bracha about The Fellowship's Kupat Yedidut Emergency Fund. "She told me that this fund was set up by Rabbi Eckstein for just this sort of emergency situation. They immediately sent a check to the gas company and my gas was connected."